Carolyn Eversonhttp://www.adweek.com/taxonomy/term/8469/all
enFacebook Exec Says Oculus Rift's Potential Will Be Discovered in Early Experimental Stagehttp://www.adweek.com/video/technology/facebook-exec-says-oculus-rifts-potential-will-be-discovered-early-experimental-stage-162167
James Cooper<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/1126101268_3973278316001_vs-54ab9c99e4b0995d1c52cc66-782203292001_0.jpg"> <p>
Dropping by the annual Omnicom Media Group opening night CES party for its clients at the Hyde Bellagio club in Las Vegas, <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/50-executives-make-their-bosses-look-good-160860" target="_blank">Carolyn Everson</a>, Facebook&#39;s vp of global marketing solutions, chatted with Adweek about her company&#39;s investment in CES 2015 darling <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/how-oculus-rift-about-reshape-marketing-creativity-162124" target="_blank">Oculus Rift</a>. She shared how experimentation with the virtual reality platform is going at the outset&mdash;with marketing efforts to follow. Everson also discussed the importance of CES as a crucial meeting of the marketing and technology worlds at the start of the new year to set agendas and spark inspiration.</p>
Technology2015 CESCarolyn EversonFacebookOculus RiftTue, 06 Jan 2015 17:40:39 +0000162167 at http://www.adweek.comThe Adweek 50: Meet the Real Movers and Shakers Behind the World's Top Brandshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/50-executives-make-their-bosses-look-good-160860
Adweek Staff<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/adweek-50-cover-02-2014.jpg"> <p>
We all hear the rumblings of the beginning of the decline of Facebook: It&#39;s getting too old, people aren&#39;t using it as much. But one look at the social giant&#39;s ubiquity in the modern American&#39;s life explains why Carolyn Everson stands atop the 2014 incarnation of the Adweek 50&mdash;which honors those executives who help their bosses (in Everson&#39;s case, Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg) bedazzle Wall Street and investors. Everson, who moves up from No. 2 in last year&#39;s 50, has overseen meteoric revenue growth, thanks to new &quot;people-based marketing,&quot; which is a fancy way of connecting marketers with consumers on whatever device they&#39;re on. Digital marketers, salespeople and content developers occupy more Adweek 50 slots than ever, a reflection of the transformation across media, marketing and technology. But the best and brightest in television, print and the agency world can also be found across our list, selected by Adweek&#39;s editors and staff. Congratulations to all for earning their spot through hard work, innovation and creativity. &mdash;Michael Burgi</p>
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<p>
<strong>No.1</strong><br />
Carolyn Everson<br />
VP, global marketing solutions<br />
Facebook<br />
2013 revenue $7.9 billion</p>
<p>
Carolyn Everson has had quite a year at Facebook. Looking back, a pattern emerges, the outlines of which look very much like the future of digital advertising.</p>
<p>
Facebook calls it &quot;people-based marketing&quot;; Everson calls it her team&#39;s biggest achievement over the last 12 months.</p>
<p>
Facebook relaunched the Atlas ad server in September, a new step for the social network in targeting ads to users across the map&mdash;via their mobile phones, tablets and desktops. It enables Facebook to pinpoint actual users rather than merely a data profile that may or may not be accurate.</p>
<p>
&quot;I am most proud of how the team has rebuilt Atlas to focus on people-based marketing,&quot; says Everson, 42. &quot;Atlas helps marketers serve more relevant advertising across devices, platforms and publishers, and it is able to measure the impact of those ads across devices&mdash;down to whether they drove sales.&quot;</p>
<p>
But there is more. At its developer conference in April, Facebook also launched the mobile Audience Network. It also bought LiveRail to enhance its video ad potential. These are the technological pieces that could eventually make Facebook the most powerful player in online advertising--&mdash;not to mention that the social network boasts 1.3 billion users, owns both Instagram and WhatsApp, has a popular Messenger app and, with the acquisition of Oculus Rift, has identified virtual reality as the most important category in the coming years.</p>
<p>
Everson likes to repeat a refrain her boss Mark Zuckerberg is fond of. &quot;At Facebook, we feel like we are less than 1 percent done with our journey&mdash;with billions more people to be connected, and millions of businesses to work with to make a difference in their growth trajectory,&quot; she says. &quot;I feel our work is just getting started.&quot;</p>
<p>
That&#39;s a sobering prospect for competitors like Google and Twitter. Facebook grew its revenue by 55 percent last year to $7.9 billion, and that figure is expected to grow to some $11 billion this year.</p>
<p>
Facebook and Everson are focused on bringing the Internet&mdash;and Facebook&mdash;to emerging markets by way of initiatives such as Internet.org. Also, video remains a key ad medium; as the company starts to show more video than YouTube, it aims to make money from that traffic.</p>
<p>
&quot;In the year ahead, you will see us continue working to be the best mobile ad platform, driving a significant amount of video consumption for consumers and marketers, and bringing Instagram into a fully scalable offering across the globe,&quot; Everson says.</p>
<p>
While Facebook is busy building a fully stacked ad business, the team also works closely with brands and agencies to help them get the most out of their marketing campaigns. Workshops called &quot;spark sessions&quot; serve as one-on-one training for brands. &quot;We are not building a sales team&mdash;we are building a group of consultative business advisors who are completely focused on our clients&#39; business,&quot; Everson says.</p>
<p>
And she means business, because nothing is a matter of &quot;if.&quot; &quot;For those of us who work at Facebook,&quot; she says, &quot;it is all about the &#39;when.&#39;&#39;&quot; <em>&mdash;Garett Sloane</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 2</strong><br />
Ted Sarandos<br />
Chief content officer,&nbsp;<strong>Netflix</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $4.37 billion</p>
<p>
Just a few years ago, if you wanted to watch exceptional TV, the last place you would turn to is your computer. Enter the binge-watching era. Netflix changed what we expect from Web programming and how we consume it with award-winning shows like House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black. Its library is continuously growing, with more cult favorites joining as streaming options and a full-on launch into original features, starting with a sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and a four-movie deal with Adam Sandler. European and South American expansion has already taken place, and there are plans to breach Asia. There&#39;s no stopping the on-demand streaming company from taking over the world. And Sarandos, 50, is leading that charge. <em>&mdash;Michelle Castillo</em></p>
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<p>
<strong>No. 3</strong><br />
Tom Daly<br />
Global group director of mobile, <strong>Coca-Cola Co.</strong><br />
2013 media spend: more than $4 billion</p>
<p>
How did Coca-Cola make this year&#39;s World Cup its most digital yet? By getting consumers to submit more than 200,000 selfies that were then used to create a 3,015-square-meter &quot;Happiness Flag&quot; displayed during the opening match in Rio de Janeiro. Behind the scenes was Daly, 52, and his mission to transform Coca-Cola into a mobile powerhouse, which goes way beyond building branded apps. Daly develops marketing with 50 billion connected devices in mind, meaning that simple tactics like text messaging are still important ways to connect with consumers. Stay tuned for more mobile-heavy work from Coke during the 2016 Summer Olympics. &quot;It would be safe to say you&#39;ll see these ideas continued and expanded,&quot; Daly promises. <em>&mdash;Lauren Johnson</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 4</strong><br />
B. Bonin Bough<br />
Vp of global media and consumer engagement,&nbsp;<strong>Mondelez</strong><br />
Estimated 2013 media spend: $182 million</p>
<p>
Few industry speakers riff on digital as passionately as Bough. But the 36-year-old marketing dynamo backs up his talk with execution, wowing South by Southwest goers with a high-tech 3-D Oreo cookie maker that registered 42 million consumer impressions. More recently, Bough forged a partnership with Google and Fullscreen that will shift 10 percent of the marketer&#39;s ad budget to online video, and he is at the forefront of millennial marketing with targeted Kik and Snapchat endeavors. <em>&mdash;Christopher Heine</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 5</strong><br />
Sridhar Ramaswamy<br />
Svp of ads and commerce,&nbsp;<strong>Google</strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $50.57 billion</p>
<p>
Ramaswamy, 48, used to work closely with Susan Wojcicki before she took over at YouTube&mdash;now the high-profile advertising position is all his own. He is a member of the elite L Team, CEO Larry Page&#39;s inner circle. Google is connecting on all fronts&mdash;devices to homes to cars to areas yet explored&mdash;and behind it all is its powerful advertising engine that could help it become the first trillion-dollar company. This year the digital giant took steps to get more brands to spend across YouTube and DoubleClick, and ad revenue continues to grow&mdash;even though competition is tougher with the rise of Facebook. But there&#39;s no doubting who the biggest of the bunch is&mdash;and that&#39;s not changing anytime soon. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 6</strong><br />
Michael Lombardo<br />
President of programming, <strong>HBO</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $4.9 billion</p>
<p>
Lombardo, 58, is one of those veteran programmers who never seems to lose his touch&mdash;the exec has been president of programming since 2007, when the media was awash in think pieces about how the finale of The Sopranos meant that HBO&#39;s golden age had ended. With Game of Thrones, Girls, True Blood and True Detective, Lombardo proved them wrong over and over. And with the new HBO Go streaming app set to debut without a cable sub next year, it looks an awful lot like the company has surpassed traditional cable networks yet again. <em>&mdash;Sam Thielman</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 7</strong><br />
Wanda Young<br />
VP of media and digital marketing, <strong>Walmart</strong><br />
Estimated 2013 media spend: $860 million</p>
<p>
Thanks to her leadership, @WalmartLabs isn&#39;t just an incubator for shiny new tech-marketing toys&mdash;it&#39;s altering the retail landscape. Most recently, Young, 45, orchestrated the rollout of Savings Catcher, a feature on Walmart&#39;s smartphone app that lets customers get money back if a nearby competitor offers lower prices. Young also engineered a data partnership with The Weather Channel that will influence how the brand targets advertising on TV, radio, Facebook, Twitter and mobile networks. <em>&mdash;C.H.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 8</strong><br />
John Hayes<br />
CMO,&nbsp;<strong>American Express</strong><br />
2013 U.S. media spend: $300 million</p>
<p>
At 59, Hayes is old enough to remember the good old days when the marketing department controlled the message&mdash;but he doesn&#39;t miss them. Under Hayes, the world&#39;s largest card issuer has evolved from iconic ad lines (&quot;Membership has its privileges&quot;) to adapting to how consumers actually live. In addition to creating Small Business Saturday, Hayes has launched some 200 new financial products, including the Serve prepaid card. He&#39;s partnered with Vevo and YouTube to launch the &quot;Unstaged&quot; concert series. And he&#39;s made AmEx into one of the first fiscal behemoths to speak Twitter. With Q2 net income up by 9 percent, it&#39;s clear that shoppers are listening. <em>&mdash;Robert Klara</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 9</strong><br />
Kevin Brady<br />
Executive creative director, <strong>Droga5</strong><br />
Revenue on Brady&#39;s accounts: $14 million</p>
<p>
If there were an advertising award for listening, Brady, 48, would win it hands down. His knack for taking in the challenges that marketers face enabled him to help Prudential find hopefulness in retirement planning and define wholesomeness for Honey Maid in a modern way, casting gay and tattooed parents in ads that have exploded online. Thoughtful and empathetic, Brady, who also leads work on BelVita and Dun &amp; Bradsteet, is known as the conscience of Droga5, ever striving for higher meaning in ads. <em>&mdash;Andrew McMains</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 10</strong><br />
Ilonka Laviz<br />
Digital brand director of global e-business,&nbsp;<strong>Procter &amp; Gamble</strong><br />
2014 global media spend: $9.2 billion</p>
<p>
Eighteen years into her P&amp;G tenure, Laviz, 40, is now making waves to prove that digital moves the sales needle for packaged-goods marketers. Laviz spearheads partnerships with Facebook, Google and Yahoo and is credited in pushing digital spending to record levels over the past few years. She&#39;s also responsible for beefing up earned media across 23 brands. The focus on brand-building seems to be paying off&mdash;this year&#39;s buzzy and female-empowering #LikeAGirl campaign has amassed nearly 50 million YouTube views since debuting in June. <em>&mdash;L.J.</em></p>
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<p>
<strong>No. 11</strong><br />
John Costello<br />
Chief global marketing and innovation officer,&nbsp;<strong>Dunkin&#39; Donuts</strong><br />
2013 media spend: $121 million</p>
<p>
When Dunkin&#39; Donuts signed its first franchise in 1955, a doughnut shop with decent coffee was a novelty. Today, a host of specialty chains like Starbucks continue to raise expectations, and every fast-food chain now serves breakfast. Fortunately, Dunkin&#39; has 66-year-old Costello. &quot;Coffee is one of the most competitive categories,&quot; he says, &quot;and we think our coffee can compete anywhere.&quot; He&#39;s proven it can: Marketing the combination of barista quality at popular prices, Costello has helped make Dunkin&#39; the No. 1 retailer of hot and iced coffee in America and the No. 2 retailer of breakfast sandwiches. The doughnuts aren&#39;t bad, either. <em>&mdash;R.K.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 12</strong><br />
David Levy/Donna Speciale<br />
President, <strong>Turner Broadcasting</strong> /president, ad sales,&nbsp;<strong>Turner Broadcasting</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $10 billion</p>
<p>
It&#39;s no surprise to see Levy, 52, a longtime Turner vet, finally in charge of the whole enchilada these days, while Speciale, also 52, takes his place at the helm of the good ship ad sales. The Time Warner-owned group generated some $3.5 billion in domestic ad revenue last year (including CNN, which is under Jeff Zucker), making it among the most profitable cable portfolios in the world. It&#39;s actually smaller than many of its competitors&mdash;10 networks in total where other groups have dozens. But among properties like TNT, Cartoon, Adult Swim and TBS, Turner punches well above its weight. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 13</strong><br />
Adam Brotman<br />
Chief digital officer,&nbsp;<strong>Starbucks</strong><br />
Estimated 2013 media spend: $95 million</p>
<p>
Out of all of Starbucks&#39; many digital efforts, its mobile innovations&mdash;led by Brotman&mdash;take the proverbial cake (or pumpkin scone, as it were). Brotman, 45, commandeers a mobile payment initiative that is revolutionizing the quick-serve sector. In March, the brand unveiled Shake to Pay, a feature that lets consumers pay for their coffee and tip the barista by simply shaking their smartphone. What&#39;s Brotman got in store next to draw foot traffic? Wireless phone charging at every location. <em>&mdash;C.H.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 14</strong><br />
Robert Kyncl<br />
Vp, Global head of content &amp; business operations,<strong> Google/YouTube</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $5.6 billion</p>
<p>
The latest challenge for Kyncl, 44, is to convert the billions of eyeballs YouTube attracts into revenue. The service&#39;s stars didn&#39;t become household names until the company featured a handful in a splashy national campaign that highlighted the premium content on its Web video platform. Its success fed the Google Preferred program, which allows brands and agency partners including DigitasLBi, OMD, IPG, Carat and SMG to advertise on the top 1 and 5 percent of YouTube videos with audience guarantees. Marketers like Taco Bell, Ford and GE, which want to get bitten by the viral video bug, are enrolling in the Brand Partner Program, a three-day course that aids brands in creating buzzy content that will connect with an always-online audience. <em>&mdash;M.C.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 15</strong><br />
Frank Cooper III<br />
Global CMO, <strong>PepsiCo</strong><br />
2013 U.S. media spend: $865 million</p>
<p>
A beverage company as large as Pepsi can draw customers by just sitting there, but Frank Cooper has pushed the 49-year-old brand to build &quot;authentic relationships&quot; by getting away from what he calls &quot;mountain top&quot; messaging and getting behind serious content. Cooper, 50, is the force behind Pepsi&#39;s Twitter-streamed Summer Beats Concert Series starring Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj, and last year&#39;s $50 million multiyear creative partnership with Beyonc&eacute;&mdash;including the Super Bowl halftime show that drew nearly 113 million visitors. <em>&mdash;R.K.</em></p>
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<span class="meta-credit">Photo: Karl J. Kaul/Wonderful Machine</span></p>
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<p>
<strong>No. 16</strong><br />
Kent Alterman<br />
President, content development and original programming,&nbsp;<strong>Comedy Central</strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $464 million</p>
<p>
Alterman&#39;s star is on the rise at Comedy Central. Boosted to his current post last year, the 57-year-old exec already had plenty of great credits: sketch programs Key &amp; Peele, Kroll Show and Inside Amy Schumer, which also happen to be killing it online. Interestingly, he declared his intent to pursue more straightforward scripted fare. He&#39;s getting his wish: Ben Stiller-produced Big Time in Hollywood, FL, is due next year. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 17</strong><br />
<strong>Network Television Ad Sales Chiefs</strong><br />
Jo Ann Ross<br />
President, ad sales,<strong> CBS Television Network<br />
</strong>Estimated 2014 upfront revenue: $2.4 billion</p>
<p>
Geri Wang<br />
President, sales and marketing<strong> ABC<br />
</strong>Estimated 2014 upfront revenue: $2 billion<br />
<br />
<strong> </strong>Linda Yaccarino<br />
President, ad sales,<strong> NBCUniversal<br />
</strong>Estimated 2014 NBC upfront revenue: $2.3 billion</p>
<p>
Toby Byrne<br />
President, ad sales, <strong>Fox Broadcasting Co. and Fox Sports Media Group<br />
</strong>Estimated 2014 upfront revenue: $1.55 billion</p>
<p>
Why bundle the network sales heads? Frankly, the 2014 TV upfront season was equally mediocre for each of the Big Four. And the road won&#39;t get any easier, as the industry nears the tipping point where TV budgets are no longer a sure thing&mdash;as they have been for the last 50 years. If anyone has a slight edge, it is NBCU&#39;s Yaccarino, 51, whose upfront haul was up slightly over 2013 (her broader mandate within NBCU covers some $9 billion in ad revenue, including broadcast, cable and digital). All the other nets saw their upfront dollar haul slump between 5 and 15 percent, while CPM increases were nominal. Can the gradual but steady shift on the buyers&#39; part to accepting commercial ratings with longer periods of DVR usage baked in help the networks get their mojo back? Prevailing wisdom among the buyers is that most viewers still skip through ads&mdash;if that functionality hasn&#39;t been disabled&mdash;regardless of how many studies the nets trot out to indicate otherwise. That won&#39;t stop Ross, 61; Wang, 54; and Byrne, 44, from continuing to exhort their teams back up to higher heights each year&mdash;since their bosses and Wall Street still demand it. <em>&mdash;Michael Burgi</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 18</strong><br />
Angela Ahrendts<br />
Svp, retail and online stores, <strong>Apple</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $1.71 billion</p>
<p>
Ahrendts, 54, understands that the key to a brand&#39;s success is the experience it provides consumers. The former Burberry CEO has focused her efforts into expanding the mammoth tech brand&#39;s position across the globe (especially China), as well as improving how customers shop. Whether that means seamless in-store customer service or easy mobile payments through the Apple Pay system, she&#39;s on board to guide consumers&#39; connected future. <em>&mdash;M.C.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 19</strong><br />
Ed Erhardt<br />
President, global customer marketingand sales, <strong>ESPN</strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $4 billion</p>
<p>
In some ways, Erhardt, 57, has the best job in cable: No rival has a product that comes anywhere close to ESPN&#39;s domination of live sports. But it&#39;s also a difficult one, involving notoriously tricky relationships with major sports leagues. Erhardt&#39;s job is to make sure the network stays ahead of the curve, and with a massive digital portfolio on top of the linear net, he&#39;s able to realize incredible sums from nearly every blue-chip advertiser in the business. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 20</strong><br />
Chris McCumber<br />
President,&nbsp;<strong>USA Network </strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $1 billion</p>
<p>
McCumber, 47, runs one of the largest networks on your remote. Now on his own after former co-president Jeff Wachtel ascended to the upper ranks of NBCU&#39;s producing structure, McCumber is charged with launching a ton of new shows on the channel, from the tongue-in-cheek Chrisley Knows Best to Middle East-set thriller Dig. It&#39;s a full plate, to say the least, as McCumber adjusts the network&#39;s &quot;blue skies&quot; programming to accommodate some clouds in its darker new shows.<em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 21</strong><br />
Richard Alfonsi<br />
Head of global sales,&nbsp;<strong>Twitter</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $665 million</p>
<p>
Twitter has built&mdash;and bought&mdash;one of the most impressive mobile ad platforms, and that success is owed in part to Alfonsi, 43. Once a simple 140-character message board, Twitter is now a dynamic, multimedia social network that brands can&#39;t ignore. This year the advertising and targeting got more sophisticated with app installs, direct-response marketing and an Amplify program that lets powerhouses like the NFL reach fans and sponsors. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 22</strong><br />
Michael Clinton<br />
President, marketing and publishing director,&nbsp;<strong>Hearst Magazines</strong><br />
Estimated 2013 revenue: $1 billion+</p>
<p>
Clinton, 59, oversees some of the most storied names in print, from Cosmo to Elle and Good Housekeeping. And while the world may bemoan the decline of magazine media, Clinton is proving it&#39;s still a booming industry: In the past year, he&#39;s spearheaded Hearst&#39;s biggest-ever September ad paging, the continued expansion of Dr. Oz The Good Life, and the pilot launch of a new freemium weekly, TrendingNY, all while serving as MPA chairman. <em>&mdash;Emma Bazilian</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 23</strong><br />
Antonio Lucio<br />
Global chief brand officer,&nbsp;<strong>Visa </strong><br />
Estimated 2013 media spend: $129 million</p>
<p>
The Winter Olympics proved that Lucio, 54, has serious game. His team generated 28 million digital engagements; it tallied 9.2 million impressions on Twitter; and his credit card had the top branded Olympics Facebook video for a week. To create contextual content, Lucio enlisted the Visa 360 Cam&mdash;a panoramic video mobile app that took consumers behind the scenes. <em>&mdash;C.H.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 24</strong><br />
Lou Latorre<br />
President, ad sales,&nbsp;<strong>Fox Cable Networks </strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $3.1 billion</p>
<p>
Things have gotten interesting at Fox Cable in the last year: FX&#39;s sister network FXX had its coming-of-age moment with a marathon of The Simpsons. The cable concern took a huge jump in ratings, and with FX making waves with edgy prestige shows like American Horror Story, the always-diplomatic LaTorre, 60, is the guy to sell it. As the cable outfit grows, so does his profile. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 25</strong><br />
Joe Abruzzese<br />
President, ad sales,&nbsp;<strong>Discovery Networks </strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $2.7 billion</p>
<p>
Well-liked both in-house and among competitors, Abruzzese keeps careful track of the market year-round and has been rewarded for it time after time. Discovery is changing&mdash;its operations are rapidly expanding overseas&mdash;but the best dressed man in ad sales remains constant. The 65-year-old exec manages to push the needle further every year. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 26</strong><br />
Mel Berning<br />
President, ad sales,&nbsp;<strong>A+E Networks </strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $2.4 billion</p>
<p>
Berning&#39;s sales acumen is too often unsung in the publicly traded world, largely because A+E Networks is jointly owned by Disney and Hearst. As such, it doesn&#39;t get bragged about on quarterly earnings calls the way NBCU does. But the 60-year-old Berning&#39;s contributions to the business can&#39;t be overstated: The ad sales division at the multibillion-dollar collection of networks like A&amp;E, History and Lifetime remains strong. And Berning&#39;s enjoying the windfall from stealth hit Vikings. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 27</strong><br />
Jon Steinlauf<br />
Evp, ad sales and marketing,&nbsp;<strong>Scripps Networks </strong><br />
2013 ad revenue: $1.6 billion</p>
<p>
Steinlauf, 57, who led Scripps to its third billion-dollar upfront this year; remains one of the most influential ad chiefs in television. Part of that is due to the quality of the Scripps portfolio&mdash;it has perfected the whoa-I&#39;ve-been-watching-Food-Network-all-afternoon lineups&mdash;but much of the credit goes to Steinlauf&#39;s commitment to patiently working out difficult and deep deals with his partners. Scripps&#39; integrations broke ground and set the standard for the industry; now that the DVR is eating larger chunks of traditional 30-second spots, it&#39;s a model that rivals are adopting left and right. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 28</strong><br />
Joanna Coles<br />
Editor in chief, <strong>Cosmopolitan;</strong> editorial director, <strong>Seventeen</strong><br />
Audience: 39 million (including print, Web, mobile, video)</p>
<p>
For Coles, 52, transforming the legendary women&#39;s magazine&#39;s reputation from that of a &quot;how-to-please-your-man&quot; bible to the go-to destination for politically savvy millennials (who still want their sex tips alongside their candidate endorsements) wasn&#39;t enough. Now, she&#39;s turning her eye to a younger audience as the new editorial director of Seventeen. And her latest side project? Producing an NBC comedy about a political blogger turned Cosmo sex writer. <em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 29</strong><br />
Keith Grossman<br />
Publisher, digital and digital products,&nbsp;<strong>Bloomberg </strong><br />
Bloomberg Digital audience: 21 million</p>
<p>
As associate publisher of Wired and Ars Technica, Grossman made a name for himself as an innovative executive (he won two consecutive Project Isaac awards for his efforts). Now, the 34-year-old is heading up Bloomberg&#39;s digital side, where he&#39;s been tasked with translating CEO Justin Smith&#39;s vision of a multiplatform, global business into reality. Since joining in July, Grossman has successfully launched several new ad platforms and products while also overseeing the rollout of Bloomberg&#39;s new mobile strategy and digital video network. <em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 30</strong><br />
Joel Stillerman<br />
Head of programming,&nbsp;<strong>AMC Networks</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $438.5 million</p>
<p>
Seemingly overnight, AMC Networks went from a sleepy little channel that reran Clint Eastwood movies to a drama powerhouse. Now, Stillerman, 53, has to show he&#39;s willing to take risks as dangerous&mdash;and as successful&mdash;as Mad Men and Breaking Bad. He&#39;s done it once with The Walking Dead, and he&#39;s been aggressive about greenlighting new shows. Martial arts drama Badlands and sci-fi show Humans are both set for next year. It&#39;s a safe bet neither of the shows will resemble anything else on TV. <em>&mdash;S.T.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 31</strong><br />
John Patroulis<br />
Chief creative officer,&nbsp;<strong>Bartle Bogle Hegarty</strong><br />
2013 revenue: $33 million (New York office)</p>
<p>
There&#39;s an athleticism in Patroulis&#39; creative leadership, but it&#39;s about tenacity and calm amid chaos, not flashiness. And it was chaotic after he joined BBH in August 2011. The following year, Greg Andersen stepped down as CEO and key client Google shifted its business elsewhere. But the 46-year-old runner and onetime boxer weathered the blows and helped craft some amazing work, including &quot;Susan Glenn&quot; for Axe and &quot;Greatness Awaits&quot; for Sony PlayStation. In short, he&#39;s a passionate and genuine leader who marketers readily embrace. <em>&mdash;A.M.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 32</strong><br />
Eddy Moretti<br />
Chief creative officer,&nbsp;<strong>Vice Media</strong><br />
Total audience: 150 million</p>
<p>
Vice Media, the multimedia empire valued at more than $2.5 billion, knows a thing or two about what millennials want. Moretti, 43, originally joined the company in 2000 to help launch its film division, but has recently led projects including Vice News, Vice Sports and Vice&#39;s Emmy-winning HBO series. He&#39;s still involved in the movie business, too: So far this year, Vice Films has released two feature-length documentaries, with a third (described as an &quot;Iranian vampire Western&quot;) on the way. <em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<div class="news-article-image" style="margin: 15px 0px 15px 15px; float: right;">
<img class="fancyzoom" data-fancybox-src="/files/imagecache/w1200/claudia-cahill-01-2014.jpg" src="/files/imagecache/test-width/claudia-cahill-01-2014.jpg" />
<p class="caption">
<span class="meta-credit">Photo: Karl J. Kaul/Wonderful Machine</span></p>
</div>
<p>
&nbsp;<strong>No. 33</strong><br />
Claudia Cahill<br />
Chief content officer, Content Collective,&nbsp;<strong>OMD</strong><br />
OMD 2013 revenue: $2.1 billion</p>
<p>
Cahill&#39;s career has focused on the relationship between brands and entertainment, and after joining OMD four years ago, she made the agency a top player in branded content. Cahill, 60, spearheads all of the Content Collective&#39;s initiatives, including client Pepsi. As the architect of OMD&#39;s Final Front, she connects content producers with advertisers in a one-of-a kind event: &quot;We&#39;ve gone from content being a conversation in the shadows to where it&#39;s mainstream marketing now,&quot; she says. <em>&mdash;Noreen O&#39;Leary</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 34</strong><br />
Eric Harris/ Jonathan Perelman<br />
Evp of business operations/vp of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures,&nbsp;<strong>BuzzFeed</strong><br />
Estimated 2014 valuation: $850 million</p>
<p>
This is a new media force unlike any seen in quite some time, thanks in part to Harris, 45, and Perelman, 33. This year, BuzzFeed has climbed the top 50 Internet property charts in the U.S. and is now close to the top 25, ahead of Gawker, Pinterest and The New York Times in traffic, according to comScore. Also, it&#39;s built a robust ad platform with native and video content. To maintain its meteoric growth, BuzzFeed raised $50 million this year. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 35</strong><br />
Paul FichtenbauM<br />
Editor, <strong>Time Inc. Sports Group</strong><br />
Audience: 41 million (print, Web, mobile, video)</p>
<p>
Since assuming his role in 2012, Fichtenbaum, 53, has transformed his group&mdash;which includes Sports Illustrated, Golf, SI Swim and SI Kids&mdash;into Time Inc.&#39;s most innovative division. Not only was SI the first Time Inc. title to integrate its print and digital staffs, but it was also the first to take advantage of a new digital video unit (SI now produces numerous live shows and specials) and has expanded its newly relaunched website into a full digital network with multiple editorial franchises. Editorially, the brand is hotter than ever, too, breaking massive stories like LeBron James&#39; return to Cleveland and Jason Collins&#39; coming out.<em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 36</strong><br />
Dawn Ostroff<br />
President, <strong>Cond&eacute; Nast Entertainment</strong><br />
Audience: 1 billion video views</p>
<p>
As the founding head of Cond&eacute; Nast&#39;s entertainment group, former CW head Ostroff has handled the daunting role of conquering uncharted territory with impressive finesse. Aided by the industry veterans she tapped to lead CNE&#39;s digital content, television and feature film divisions, Ostroff, 53, has masterminded the creation of 14 video channels based on Cond&eacute; Nast magazine titles, struck a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox Television and set up more than a dozen projects at movie studios, some with Oscar-level talent attached. Not bad for a trailblazer. <em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 37</strong><br />
Frank Holland<br />
Corporate vp of advertising and online business, <strong>Microsoft</strong><br />
2013 online services revenue: $3.2 billion</p>
<p>
Under new leadership for the first time in more than a decade, Microsoft is still among the five most valuable companies in the world. Advertising mostly falls under its online services division&mdash;50-year-old Holland&#39;s turf&mdash;which grew 12 percent last year. MSN continues to be a lucrative property with brand partners, while Bing is basically Google&#39;s only rival in search. Also, Microsoft owns Skype, a key player in mobile messaging. With new devices and services, the blue-chip giant is one of the few tech companies with the infrastructure to make a mark on mobile advertising. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 38</strong><br />
John Muszynski<br />
Chief investment officer,&nbsp;<strong>Spark</strong><br />
2013 billings: $1.5 billion</p>
<p>
Muszynski has been tag-teaming Spark&#39;s transformation with CEO Chris Boothe since early 2012. Boothe even credits Muszynski, 56, with having instant credibility in new business pitches. Under their leadership, Spark has changed the way it goes to market and its approach to clients, which proved successful with recent wins like REI, ConAgra Foods and Red Lobster. Muszynski is a big believer that data should inform all client investment decisions. <em>&mdash;Kristina Monllos</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 39</strong><br />
Cameron Clayton<br />
President, product and technology,&nbsp;<strong>The Weather Co.</strong><br />
21% two-year CAGR digital revenue growth</p>
<p>
Weather affects daily life, which is why Clayton, 38, believes it informs consumer behavior. TWC&#39;s WeatherFX platform, which has attracted clients like Walmart, uses location-based weather to determine what goods people will want at a given time&mdash;and then serves up the appropriate ad. But the digital division relies not just on data but also creativity. For example, its innovative frizzy hair day local forecast for P&amp;G&#39;s Pantene nabbed honors including a Clio Award and Adweek&#39;s Project Isaac and Media Plan of the Year awards. <em>&mdash;M.C.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 40</strong><br />
Patrick Yee<br />
Evp of marketing and content strategy,&nbsp;<strong>Refinery 29 </strong><br />
2013 revenue: $29.1 million</p>
<p>
Refinery29 might be a women&#39;s lifestyle site, but to Yee, 37, it&#39;s all about numbers. He takes a quantitative approach to help bolster editorial, offering insights before an article is written to predict what will resonate. That&#39;s great news for marketers like Neiman Marcus, H&amp;M and Nordstrom, which expect their branded content will get in front of the right eyeballs. <em>&mdash;M.C.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 41</strong><br />
Jim Squires<br />
Director of marketing,&nbsp;<strong>Instagram </strong><br />
Estimated 2014 revenue: $500 million</p>
<p>
Facebook continues to make headlines because teenagers seem to be migrating elsewhere, but that elsewhere is sibling Instagram. Squires, 38, maintains strict control of Instagram advertising, but the platform is opening up to more big-name sponsors. In just the past year, since the launch of advertising, Instagram marketing has exploded and the technology behind it is getting more sophisticated with plans for better targeting and measurement capabilities&mdash;as well as video. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 42</strong><br />
Evin Shutt<br />
Chief operating officer,&nbsp;<strong>72andSunny</strong><br />
Estimated 2013 revenue: $120 million (global)<br />
As 72andSunny&#39;s first employee a decade ago, Shutt did everything from drilling holes in desks to early brand management. Now the agency&#39;s only female partner, she continues to be indispensable, helping guide the growth to 450 staffers, opening an Amsterdam office, constructing a production studio and launching in-house training. A former educator in the Teach for America corps, 35-year-old Shutt says, &quot;It&#39;s been a natural transition. 72andSunny is about personal growth and creative expression.&quot;<em> &mdash;N.O.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 43</strong><br />
Nuno Teles<br />
CMO, <strong>Heineken USA </strong><br />
Estimated 2013 media spend: $76 million</p>
<p>
Already an advertising star in Brazil, Teles wasted little time making his mark here after being named U.S. marketing chief in February. Teles, 42, encouraged World Cup fans to play hooky from work&mdash;or pull off a #BrazilianNoShow&mdash;and enjoy f&uacute;tbol with a pilsner instead. The hashtag went viral, as did whip-smart videos starring comics Neil Patrick Harris and Fred Armisen. And last week, Teles forged an exclusive $40 million sponsorship with Major League Soccer. <em>&mdash;C.H.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 44</strong><br />
Penry Price<br />
Vp of global sales, marketing solutions <strong>LinkedIn </strong><br />
2013 revenue: $360 million</p>
<p>
The social network for professionals has made big strides in advertising this year, following a path blazed by Facebook and offering a unique marketing proposition: the ability to reach high-income and business-minded people. Under Price, 45, LinkedIn this year launched Direct Sponsored Updates, which lets marketers test and target their ads. New software tools for publishing partners are also available. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 45</strong><br />
Emily White<br />
COO, <strong>Snapchat </strong><br />
Active users: 100 million</p>
<p>
Like Facebook&#39;s Sheryl Sandberg, White, 36, is one of those people who accepted a ticket on a rocket ship. White came over from Instagram within the past year, and she is key to the fledgling business plans of the popular messaging app. Snapchat has quickly embraced brands, which are finding crazy engagement on the platform. Users will soon start seeing paid ads. Snapchat doesn&#39;t yet attract meaningful revenue, but is worth an estimated (and mind-boggling) $10 billion. <em>&mdash;G.S.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 46</strong><br />
Robin Steinberg<br />
Evp, director of publishing investment and activation,&nbsp;<strong>MediaVest </strong><br />
2013 revenue: $500 million</p>
<p>
With a roster of A-list clients including Mondelez, Walmart, Coca-Cola, Starwood and Comcast, Steinberg is indisputably one of the most important figures in media buying. Steinberg, 46, made a name for herself as a print buyer, but also oversees select portal relationships and cross-channel deals for MediaVest, and serves on the agency&#39;s digital leadership and executive teams. Additionally, she&#39;s an active member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Advertising Club of New York, the 4A&#39;s Print Committee and the MPA&#39;s Tablet Task Force. <em>&mdash;E.B.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 47</strong><br />
Khartoon Ohan<br />
Chief growth officer,&nbsp;<strong>MediaCom </strong><br />
2013 billings: $600 million</p>
<p>
Maybe it&#39;s the competitive athlete in Ohan, but in her first year at MediaCom she&#39;s landed some solid wins. Clients like the American Legacy Foundation, DSW, eBay and ADT Home Security Systems, among others, were some of the additions&mdash;part of her effort to secure a large portfolio of retail business for the WPP agency. While Ohan, 36, lives for the thrill of the hunt, she&#39;s also in it for the long haul with client partnerships. She works to discern between what&#39;s interesting and what&#39;s important in business, using that as a filter for bringing clients the right solutions. <em>&mdash;K.M.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 48</strong><br />
Paul Guyardo<br />
Chief revenue and marketing officer,&nbsp;<strong>DirecTV </strong><br />
2013 revenue: $25 billion</p>
<p>
Under Guyardo&#39;s guidance, DirecTV has successfully rebranded as the premium brand in the pay-television category. Known for encouraging candor, Guyardo, 52, asks that his nearly 800 employees tell him what he needs to hear, not what they think he wants to hear. Since joining in 2005, Guyardo has grown DirecTV&#39;s subscriber base from 15 million to over 20 million and more than doubled revenue. DirecTV&#39;s also successfully launched several new products such as the NFL Sunday Ticket and DirecTV Cinema.<em> &mdash;K.M.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 49</strong><br />
Brett Craig<br />
Executive creative director, <strong>Deutsch LA </strong><br />
2013 revenue: $115 million</p>
<p>
Craig&#39;s work has helped grow Deutsch clients like Taco Bell from one project to among the agency&#39;s largest. Plus, he&#39;s overseen the brand&#39;s expansion into breakfast. For Dr Pepper, the 42-year-old increased critical relevance metrics and the &quot;Always One of a Kind&quot; pitch made the soda a top six social brand with 16 million Facebook fans. &quot;Brett&#39;s a creative black belt. He can produce quality and quantity at the same time,&quot; says Mike Sheldon, CEO of Deutsch LA.<em> &mdash;N.O.</em></p>
<p>
<strong>No. 50</strong><br />
Beth Greve<br />
Chief revenue and partnerships officer,&nbsp;<strong>AwesomenessTV </strong><br />
DreamWorks Animation SKG bought it for $33 million cash and $117 million in consideration in 2013</p>
<p>
Greve, 45, who came over from managing sales, strategy and business development at YouTube, has been able to convince brands like Coca-Cola, Royal Caribbean and Kohl&#39;s that if they want to target today&#39;s youth, they need to include the multichannel network in their spend. It&#39;s not an easy task when you have a fickle audience that&#39;s notoriously picky, but she&#39;s helped cement the online empire as a purveyor of cool. <em>&mdash;M.C.</em></p>
Advertising & BrandingAdweek 50American ExpressCarolyn EversonCoca-Coladunkin donutsAdweek StaffGoogleHboMagazine ContentMondelezNetflixProcter & GambleStarbucksTurner BroadcastingWalmartMon, 20 Oct 2014 04:01:17 +0000160860 at http://www.adweek.comMatt Seiler Is Out to Remake and Automate the Media Agency Worldhttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/matt-seiler-out-remake-and-automate-media-agency-world-155047
Noreen O'Leary<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/fea-matt-seiler-hed-2014.jpg"> <p>
Facebook global sales chief Carolyn Everson knew to brace herself for some hair-raising skiing in the Utah mountains with Matt Seiler, a weekend guest of hers at this year&rsquo;s Sundance Film Festival. When the two skied together previously, the Mediabrands CEO always sought out the toughest trails&mdash;whether Everson was ready for them or not.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I can do it, but he pushes me to try and the next thing you know I&rsquo;m down the hill,&rdquo; she laughs. &ldquo;Matt just doesn&rsquo;t like to do things the easy way or the same way. And he challenges himself and his agency teams the same way to move as fast and as differently as they possibly can for the betterment of the business.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
It&rsquo;s the perfect analogy. Seiler gets colleagues to tackle the dizzying heights of a new challenge head-on as he pushes them to exceed their own expectations. Take programmatic buying: <a href="/node/151537">Interpublic Group&rsquo;s Mediabrands</a> is arguably the most aggressive among industry players in pushing for automation. In 2012, Seiler set a goal for executives at Mediabrands&rsquo; agencies (UM, Initiative and BPN) to automate all U.S. media buying&mdash;not just digital&mdash;to 50 percent in two years. (After they &ldquo;freaked&rdquo; out, he compromised and gave them three years to meet that goal.)</p>
<p>
So far so good. In year one they exceeded their mandate, which was heavily digital; now into year two, video will be introduced along with other media. By year three, the agencies will be well into TV. (By 2017, G14 regions&mdash;those outside North America that are considered most important to marketers&mdash;need to hit that 50 percent benchmark.)</p>
<p>
To do that, sibling unit Magna Global was restructured to become Mediabrands&rsquo; central buying hub, with technology, analytics and data capture brought together in one place. A consortium of media owners was created, including A+E Networks, AOL, Cablevision, Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, ESPN and Tribune, to sell more traditional inventory through automation.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;With Magna, we wanted to automate whatever we possibly could in the buying process not just because the industry desperately needed to have it done but also because the move toward automation allows for much more investment on higher-touch, higher- value engagement with media owners,&rdquo; explains Seiler, whose intense gaze underscores his restless, inquisitive nature. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s what we call the custom and sponsorship side of things&mdash;more of working in concert with the media owner to create a very valuable experience&mdash;so it&rsquo;s not just about buying an adjacency.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Clear Channel CEO <a href="/node/154510">Bob Pittman</a> likes that ability to free up customized plans. &ldquo;Matt has done some of the best thinking about technology and how we can use it to better serve Magna and its clients,&rdquo; he says.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Matt&rsquo;s not a media dork or specialist,&rdquo; says Jay Sears, svp, marketing development at <a href="/node/153589">Rubicon Project</a>, Mediabrands&rsquo; advertising automation partner. &ldquo;Because of that, he brings Mediabrands buying to the cool kids table. Automation brings efficiencies to the salt mines. As an account guy, Matt is still client-focused and can explain automation to clients in the plain English they understand.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
For better perspective on the kind of innovation Seiler has introduced in his three years atop Mediabrands it helps to know why the former strategist and account man moved into media 10 years ago and why Mediabrands&rsquo; pay-for-performance model is fundamental to everything that happens there. In previous jobs, Seiler saw clients seeking an entity to take total responsibility of their business. That was challenging for holding companies because of conflicts, and because it undermined their purpose; operating units invariably undertook tasks with the bias of their particular disciplines. Media agencies, on the other hand, could be an extension of clients&rsquo; marketing departments.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Media seemed like the perfect altitude at which to manage a client&rsquo;s business mostly because that was where the concentration of their spend was,&rdquo; Seiler reasons. &ldquo;I thought the best way to prove that commitment to extending [a] client&rsquo;s marketing department was to get paid exactly as they do. With things like automation, pay-for-performance leads it.&rdquo;</p>
<!--pagebreak-->
<p>
<img alt="" src="/files/fea-matt-seiler-hed-02-2014.jpg" style="width: 652px; height: 367px; margin-bottom: 10px;" /><br />
<em>Photo: Christopher Gabello&nbsp;</em></p>
<p>
Still, necessity plays a role in Seiler&rsquo;s motivation. &ldquo;Mediabrands can&rsquo;t lead with scale so innovation attracts clients looking for that,&rdquo; says one agency veteran. &ldquo;But they&rsquo;re challenged to win business when a decision maker believes size drives pricing. That&rsquo;s not where Mediabrands wins.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Seiler wants to be the technology-driven Nasdaq to the industry&rsquo;s more traditional NYSE floor traders. Driving automation efficiencies into the process doesn&rsquo;t concern him. Agency competitors are either paid on commission, where they have to spend as much money as possible, or in man hours where they need to keep as many people on a client&rsquo;s business as they can. &ldquo;But if you&rsquo;re paid for performance, all you care about is, &lsquo;How&rsquo;s the client doing?&rsquo;&rdquo; Seiler notes. &ldquo;Are they achieving their business objectives? If we can do that with fewer buying bodies and then reinvest on custom and sponsorship where we know things are much stickier, the better.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Today, half of Mediabrands agencies are on pay-for-performance contracts, which tie agency creative teams&rsquo; financial incentives to clients&rsquo; business results.</p>
<p>
Case in point: Initiative Germany&rsquo;s efforts to reelect Europe&rsquo;s most powerful politician last fall. Chancellor Angela Merkel was projecting a 23 percentage point win. Achieving that meant Initiative would get paid according to a regular contract; if she didn&rsquo;t get reelected, the agency wouldn&rsquo;t receive a single Euro. A return beyond 23 percent meant Initiative would share in the surplus. The result surpassed even Merkel&rsquo;s own polls. Her Christian Democrats and allies, the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, pulled in 41.5 percent of the popular vote. Initiative realized an additional 17 percent in revenue beyond what was negotiated upfront.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t behaving like a media agency. We were a crusader on Angela&rsquo;s behalf, which meant we came up with so many innovations outside normal expectations,&rdquo; says Seiler. &ldquo;People do what they&rsquo;re paid to do. If you pay them to build clients&rsquo; business, that&rsquo;s what they&rsquo;ll do. If you pay them to come up with a media plan, that&rsquo;s also what they&rsquo;ll do.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Seiler adds the reason for much of that innovation reflex is the diversity of the people around him, execs who, like him, don&rsquo;t possess traditional media agency DNA. The global chiefs of Mediabrands&rsquo; three networks all have strategy in their backgrounds: Daryl Lee at UM had been a McKinsey consultant; Jim Elms at Initiative was a media supervisor who worked with Seiler when the two were at Goodby, Silverstein &amp; Partners; and Mauricio Sabogal at BPN spent time at Nielsen. Jacki Kelley, Mediabrands&rsquo; North American president, global clients, had worked for media owners like Yahoo, USA Today and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and Jim Hytner, CEO and president, global clients for Mediabrands G14 markets, was a client at Barclays and Coca-Cola.</p>
<p>
Last year Seiler restructured those top management ranks to upend silos, reorganizing away from P&amp;L and putting a focus on strategy. Agency heads were put in charge of strategies and products while Mediabrands assumed management of P&amp;L, with execs like Kelley, Hytner and Andrea Suarez, who runs the world markets region, leading the way.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;The level of collaboration that came from that shift has been mind-blowing while our competitors still have hundreds of P&amp;Ls,&rdquo; says Kelley. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re not up for transformation, a taste for change, fire in the belly, don&rsquo;t come work here.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
When Seiler went to IPG CEO <a href="/node/151408">Michael Roth</a> to explain that change and its associated costs, the holding company chief asked him to promise not to restructure again anytime soon. &ldquo;I said I wish I could promise that, but I can&rsquo;t,&rdquo; recalls Seiler. &ldquo;The world is changing around us at such speed, you have to have the flexibility to address it all.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
That penchant for rogue reinvention may be in Seiler&rsquo;s genes. At the age of 42, his father, a major influence, got bored with his prestigious job as the associate dean at the Harvard Business School and decided to study architecture. Later in life, he studied mediation, arbitration and litigation and became a mediator until his death at 81.</p>
<p>
Seiler&rsquo;s own career has taken him through account work on everything from Procter &amp; Gamble, BMW (which was his dream client) and PepsiCo brands at Benton &amp; Bowles, Ogilvy &amp; Mather, Ammirati &amp; Puris, GS&amp;P, BBDO and Omnicom before moving over to the media side, first as president, CEO at PHD, then as global chief at UM. (When he wanted to move out of his job as chief insight and integration officer at Omnicom and back into an operational role in media, he called Omnicom CEO John Wren. An hour later, Seiler, with no previous media agency management experience, was offered the PHD job.)</p>
<p>
Bill Katz, chairman of Mediabrands&rsquo; partner Visible World, which creates targeted TV ad solutions, was president/CEO at BBDO in New York and Seiler&rsquo;s boss when he worked at the shop in the late &rsquo;90s. Katz was part of the decision to offer account exec Seiler the agency&rsquo;s top strategic planning role and was initially taken aback when Seiler told him he wanted to shift to the media side.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;He was self-trained, an account person with a creative mind and natural instincts about what we were trying to do and say,&rdquo; recalls Katz. &ldquo;I was surprised about his move to media until he explained it to me. Back then it was simply about the distribution of a message, but he saw media platforms changing quickly. He wasn&rsquo;t the only one, but, given his background, he saw it from a different level. It wasn&rsquo;t just about distribution, it was becoming about the way the message affected behavior.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Concurs Facebook&rsquo;s Everson: &ldquo;Matt always values and knows that at the end of the day ideas are always critically important. His background at creative agencies is really relevant to his success on the media side.&rdquo;</p>
Advertising & BrandingA+E NetworksAolautomationCablevisionCarolyn EversonNoreen O'LearyEspnMagazine ContentMatt SeilerMediabrandsTribuneMon, 20 Jan 2014 02:32:17 +0000155047 at http://www.adweek.comFacebook Hires TV Veteran to Run U.S. Saleshttp://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/facebook-hires-tv-veteran-run-us-sales-152812
Mike Shields<p>
Facebook has hired longtime TV sales executive David Lawenda to serve as vp, global sales, in the U.S.</p>
<p>
Lawenda, who served as president of Univision before being <a href="http://Facebook Hires TV Veteran to Run U.S. Sales" target="_blank">ousted roughly a year ago</a>, will report directly to C<a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/person/carolyn-everson" target="_blank">arolyn Everson, Facebook&#39;s vp of global marketing solutions</a>. The TV vet previously held sales posts at&nbsp;&nbsp;SpikeTV, UPN and Turner.</p>
<p>
It&#39;s easy to see why Facebook is looking to nab a sales executive from the traditional media world at this juncture. The company is <a href="http://beta.fool.com/dujames/2013/07/26/facebook-ramping-up-mobile-monetization/41642/" target="_blank">ramping up monetization post IPO</a>. It&#39;s pushing <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-may-finally-figured-monetize-mobile-users-205546190.html" target="_blank">hard into mobile </a>while trying to <a href="http://blog.hubspot.com/mark-cuban-likes-facebook-again" target="_blank">sway more big brands </a>to use its platform beyond hosting individual pages. And perhaps most pertinent, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/12/us-facebook-video-idUSBRE98B17020130912" target="_blank">Facebook appears to want in</a> on the burgeoning Web video ad market.</p>
<p>
&quot;David is a fantastic and proven leader with a deep understanding of how to build brands and drive ROI for brands and agencies,&quot; said Everson in a statement. &quot;Throughout his career he&#39;s not only managed and led, but he&#39;s brought an entrepreneurial spirit and sense of evangelism to his teams and companies. He knows how to roll up his sleeves and inspire his team, and he&#39;s worked closely with the best marketers and agencies across the US.&quot;</p>
Advertising & BrandingTechnologyCarolyn EversonDavid LawendaFacebookSpike TVMike ShieldsUPNTue, 01 Oct 2013 15:15:02 +0000152812 at http://www.adweek.comFacebook Morphs Sponsored Stories, Kills Online Part of 'Offers'http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-morphs-sponsored-stories-kills-online-part-offers-150063
Christopher Heine<p>
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-rolling-out-video-ads-news-feeds-149239" target="_blank">Facebook</a> is reshuffling the deck when it comes to its 27 different ad units, and six months from now, fewer than half the cards will be in play.</p>
<p>
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/News/620/An-Update-on-Facebook-Ads" target="_blank">revealed today</a> it plans to dramatically slash and reshape its bevy of paid promotional products. Among the more noteworthy moves: <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/1-800-flowerscom-throws-bouquets-facebook-offers-143840" target="_blank">Facebook Offers</a>, at least&nbsp;in the e-commerce sense, are being phased out while <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/facebook-spotlights-brands-sponsored-stories-126269" target="_blank">Sponsored Stories</a> will soon no longer exist as stand alone units&mdash;though the social-context ads will be integrated into several different ad units.</p>
<p>
So in essence, Facebook is consolidating its ad roster to theoretically give brands fewer-but-better options. With Facebook Offers, retailers can still utilize the promos but only for in-store applications. Evidently, the social giant decided that e-commerce offers were driving traffic away from its property at an uneasy clip. Facebook is also removing its two-year-old <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blog/blog.php?post=411795942130" target="_blank">Questions product</a> from business pages.</p>
<p>
The developments are meant to minimize ad unit redundancies while fostering more consistency to the benefit of Web and mobile campaigns, per the social site.</p>
<p>
More specifically, Facebook product manager Fidji Simo, in the previously mentioned blog, described how Sponsored Stories will be implemented into future ads: &quot;When you create a Page post photo ad, we will automatically add social context and eliminate that extra step of creating Sponsored Stories. We believe social enhances ad resonance; people are influenced by this type of word-of-mouth marketing. These changes will happen in the fall.&quot;</p>
<p>
Expect some of the other changes to begin appearing late this month, which coincides with the end of Facebook&#39;s Q2. Per eMarketer, CEO Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s firm should grow ad revenues to $5.6 billion this year with about $1.5 billion coming via mobile.</p>
<p>
Meanwhile, Laura O&#39;Shaughnessy CEO at <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/fast-chat-socialcode-cro-bill-masterson-146898" target="_blank">SocialCode</a>, one of Facebook&#39;s <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-establishes-elite-partner-list-143882" target="_blank">preferred marketing developers</a>, applauded the moves.</p>
<p>
&quot;Campaign data shows that our own clients have already gravitated towards ad units that achieve larger business goals, including conversions or actions that result in quantifiable ROI,&quot; she explained via email. &quot;These goals are attainable through Facebook campaigns; brands are looking for a streamlined and efficient approach to reach them. Facebook is a step ahead in recognizing this need and in placing a heavier focus on only those advertising solutions that deliver preferred results.&quot;</p>
TechnologyCarolyn EversonFacebookFacebookFacebook OffersFacebook preferred marketing developersChristopher HeineSocial adsSocialCodeThu, 06 Jun 2013 21:24:29 +0000150063 at http://www.adweek.comFrito-Lay Likes the Data From Doritos' 'Crash the Super Bowl'http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/frito-lay-likes-data-doritos-crash-super-bowl-147127
Christopher Heine<img src="http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-detail/news_article/doritos-crash-super-bowl-hed-2013.jpg"> <p>
Doritos&rsquo; decision to move its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crash_the_Super_Bowl" target="_blank">seventh annual</a> &quot;Crash the Super Bowl&quot; <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/pros-and-cons-5-doritos-crash-super-bowl-finalists-146352" target="_blank">campaign</a> to Facebook proved to be a winner. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doritos" target="_blank">Frito-Lay brand</a>&mdash;which had anchored the effort on a microsite in years past&mdash;drew nearly 100 million views for the five finalist videos in the user-generated contest, breaking its record.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;Almost every single metric of the program exceeded what we achieved during the last six years,&rdquo; <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ram-krishnan/0/2b1/900?trk=pub-pbmap" target="_blank">Ram Krishnan</a>, vp of marketing at Frito-Lay, told <a href="https://twitter.com/Adweek" target="_blank">Adweek</a>. Krishnan said Facebook&rsquo;s social nature helped the videos go viral. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the whole reason why we switched,&quot; he said. &quot;People like to talk about the videos, and that reaches their circle of friends.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
What&rsquo;s more, visits to its Facebook <a href="https://apps.facebook.com/crashthesuperbowl/" target="_blank">app page</a> were up 100 percent compared to last year on the microsite, said <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dena-vonwerssowetz/5a/20b/3a4" target="_blank">Dena von Werssowetz</a>, Frito-Lay marketing manager. Doritos&rsquo; Facebook fans increased substantially, von Werssowetz suggested, eclipsing the 4 million mark for the first time on the social site.</p>
<p>
Her brand ran the full gamut of <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-execs-tout-mobile-targeting-146900" target="_blank">Facebook ads</a>&mdash;<a href="http://www.quora.com/Facebook-1/What-is-reach-block-advertising-on-Facebook" target="_blank">Reach Block</a>, <a href="http://www.qwaya.com/facebook-ads/guide-to-facebook-ads" target="_blank">Marketplace</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/162317430499238/" target="_blank">Sponsored Stories</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/promote" target="_blank">Promoted Posts</a>&mdash;to drive interest in the &ldquo;Crash&rdquo; initiative. (A spend figure wasn&#39;t disclosed.) Around 3,500 videos were submitted from <a href="http://www.pepsico.com/PressRelease/Doritos-Unveils-Boldest-Crash-The-Super-Bowl-Ever-With-Grand-Prize-To-Work-With-09202012.html" target="_blank">Oct. 8 through Nov. 16, 2012,</a> via the brand&rsquo;s Facebook app.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;I watched every single one of the submissions that came through,&rdquo; von Werssowetz said.</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/jeff-klein/0/a22/704" target="_blank">Jeff Klein</a>, senior marketing director for Frito-Lay, said the Facebook game plan was partly developed at the social giant&rsquo;s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., months ago. &ldquo;We kicked this off not just with Facebook&rsquo;s sales team,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;but with their strategy team. We had a hackathon on-site to pull this off.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
As in previous years, &quot;Crash the Super Bowl&quot; invited consumers to create 30-second spots with the promise that two winning submissions would run during the Super Bowl. Five finalists were posted on Facebook in early January, and the two spots with the most views would make the big game. Of the two, the one that ranked highest on the <a href="http:// http://admeter.usatoday.com/articles/view/the-results" target="_blank"><em>USA Today</em> Ad Meter</a> would get the opportunity to <a href="http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/michael-bay-crashing-super-bowl-doritos-143955" target="_blank">work with</a> ultra-successful Hollywood director <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bay" target="_blank">Michael Bay</a>.</p>
<p>
The ad creators were eligible to win cash if their commercial ranked among the top three finishers on the Ad Meter. (Prizes offered: $1 million for first place, $600,000 for second place and $400,000 for third place.) &ldquo;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmIGTTy8pI0" target="_blank">Fashionista Dad</a>&rdquo; finished fourth on the meter for Doritos, while the other spot, &ldquo;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d8ZDSyFS2g" target="_blank">Goat 4 Sale</a>,&rdquo; came in seventh.</p>
<p>
<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/goodby-silverstein-opens-new-york-146344" target="_blank">Goodby, Silverstein &amp; Partners</a>, Ketchum and Grow contributed work to the campaign. The Frito-Lay marketing team believes the creative for the spots was the best in the contest&rsquo;s long run.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We probably wouldn&rsquo;t have bought the scripts that made the Super Bowl,&rdquo; Klein said, noting their offbeat nature might not &quot;work&quot; on paper. &ldquo;We probably wouldn&rsquo;t have bought the &lsquo;Goat&rsquo; script.&quot;</p>
<p>
And it sounds likely that Doritos will run the &quot;Crash&quot; initiative again next year. &quot;This is the best amplification of our brand narrative,&quot; Klein said. &quot;We just continue to be blown away by the creativity of Doritos fans.&rdquo;</p>
TechnologyCarolyn EversonCrash the Super BowlDoritosFacebookFacebook adsChristopher HeineFrito-layPepsicoPepsiCo Foodssponsored storiesThu, 07 Feb 2013 22:20:37 +0000147127 at http://www.adweek.comSheryl Sandberg Doubles Down on Facebook's Branding Prowesshttp://www.adweek.com/news/technology/sheryl-sandberg-doubles-down-facebooks-branding-prowess-144141
Christopher Heine<p>
Just in case you&rsquo;re an Internet marketer who went into a coma in 2007 and just woke up yesterday to hear Facebook taking such a full-throated stance that its <a href="http://www.forbes.com/fdc/welcome_mjx.shtml" target="_blank">digital ads</a> work like TV spots, don&rsquo;t worry, you&rsquo;re going to be fine. That was 100 percent real.</p>
<p>
Speaking with public television interview star <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Rose" target="_blank">Charlie Rose</a> in front of about 550 marketers today, Facebook&rsquo;s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg doubled down on her company&rsquo;s position that its social ads drive offline store sales in the traditional branding sense.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We now [know] that not only do people see the ads,&rdquo; she said at the IAB Mixx event in New York City, &quot;we know they ring the cash registers.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Indeed, four months after <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-shares-rise-fall-rise-end-where-they-started-140623" target="_blank">post-IPO Facebook </a>started enduring increasing scrutiny about its ability to grow revenues, Sandberg and the rest of the Facebook Marketing Solutions team are not mincing words in their messaging during <a href="https://register.advertisingweek.com/Online/default.asp" target="_blank">Advertising Week IX</a>. Our impressions make a big impression, they&rsquo;re heralding. Their sales language has arguably never been either this precise or this eyebrow-raising.</p>
<p>
Brad Smallwood, Facebook&rsquo;s measurement lead, yesterday pointed to his firm&rsquo;s partnership with measurement firm DataLogix to study 50 campaigns, finding that Facebook advertisers&rsquo; physical store sales were the result of a click only one percent of the time. Ninety-nine percent of sales were from consumers who saw an ad but didn&rsquo;t click it. He repeatedly said Facebook ads work &quot;<a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-our-ads-are-just-tv-144118" target="_blank">just like in TV</a>.&quot;</p>
<p>
Today, Smallwood didn&#39;t back down while speaking with Adweek in the conference halls of a midtown Manhattan hotel. &ldquo;Branding does work online,&quot; he said. &quot;When someone sees a message, that impression leads to in-store purchases. It&rsquo;s the same as in TV.&rdquo;</p>
<p>
Whether or not Facebook ads work like TV spots could make for interesting discussions during the remaining three days of Advertising Week.</p>
<p>
To be clear, Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s company doesn&rsquo;t want all marketers focusing on ad impressions. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based digital giant also believes direct-response marketers will continue to think clicks are important to them. And it hopes an increasing number of retailers buy ads to push discounts they promote via Facebook Offers, a Groupon competitor.</p>
<p>
Additionally, the nascent <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/buyers-bullish-facebook-exchange-143658" target="_blank">Facebook Exchange (FBX)</a> is off to a tremendous start with its 15 ad tech firm partners, according to Facebook.</p>
<p>
&ldquo;We think it&rsquo;s going to unlock a significant amount of spend around the globe,&rdquo; said Carolyn Everson, Facebook vp of global marketing solutions. &ldquo;We are seeing anywhere from 4X [return on investment] to 15X. And we are seeing marketers signing up everyday.&quot;</p>
TechnologyAdvertising WeekBrad SmallwoodCarolyn EversonFacebookFacebookChristopher HeineTue, 02 Oct 2012 23:46:48 +0000144141 at http://www.adweek.comIs Facebook a Media or Tech Company?http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/facebook-media-or-tech-company-139242
Andrew McMains<p>
Don&#39;t call Facebook a media company.</p>
<p>
Six hours after WPP CEO Martin Sorrell did just that at the 4A&#39;s Transformation Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., Facebook&#39;s Carolyn Everson took the stage and asserted that her employer is in the technology, not media business.</p>
<p>
&quot;I found it fascinating that Martin said this morning that Facebook was a media company&mdash;not a technology company. We actually define ourselves as a technology company,&quot; said Everson, vp of global marketing solutions at Facebook.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
&quot;Media companies are known for the content that they create. Our approach has been around having open technology and really investing in the best engineering talent, the best infrastructure and providing a platform that not only users can use as their database communications vehicle, but also brands, businesses, non-profits&quot; and industries.</p>
<p>
During Sorrell&#39;s earlier appearance, he likened Facebook, Google and Twitter to media owners such as News Corp. and Disney. Naturally, it&#39;s in Facebook&#39;s interest to be seen as much more. In fact, as Everson&#39;s interviewer, JWT&#39;s David Eastman, pointed out, an initial public offering is on the horizon.&nbsp;</p>
<p>
That&#39;s not to suggest that Everson ran afoul of Facebook&#39;s pre-IPO quiet period. She made the same assertion she has made in the past, as did Sorrell. Neither is likely to change the other&#39;s strongly held opinion, however.</p>
Advertising & BrandingCarolyn EversonDavid EastmanFacebookJwtMartin SorrellAndrew McMainstechnology companyWPP GroupTue, 27 Mar 2012 23:59:57 +0000139242 at http://www.adweek.com